Game apparatus



A ril 3Q), W35. J. K. STAFFORD GAME APPARATUS Filed Oct. 50, 1933 Inventor! John K. Stafford, by flak /979% His Attorney.

Patented Apr. 30, 1935 arm OFFICE 12 Claims.

connection with a fictitious golf course which could be laid out in an instruction book- The three quantities which mainly concern one who plays a golf shot are distance, direction and amount of hook or slice. In accordance with my invention I provide an extremely simple and inexpensive device for indicating all three of these quantities and which can be used in a space but little larger than that required to'swin'g a golf club.

An object of my invention is to provide a new and improved game apparatus.

Another object of my invention is to provide a golf practice device which is extremely simple and inexpensive to construct.

A further object of my invention is to provide a new and improved golf practice device which will give indications of the distance, direction and amount of hook slice which result from an actual golf stroke.

My invention will be better understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims. In the drawing, in which similar reference characters designate similar elements throughout the several views, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of my invention in its normal state of rest prior to being used, Fig. 2 is a perspective View showing the position of the parts after a stroke has been taken, Fig. 3 is a crosssection through the golf ball showing the details of its mounting, Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the portion of the apparatus for indicating the amount of hook or slice, and Fig. 5 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the apparatus on the line 5--5 of Fig. 1..

Referring now particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawing, it will be seen that the illustrated embodiment of my invention consists essentially of a trough or channel I, preferably constructed of metal, and preferably provided with inwardly sloping side walls 2. The trough I is pivotally mounted for rotation in a horizontal plane by any suitable means, such, for example, as by a nail 3 passed through a hole in the bottom of the trough at one end thereof and driven into the ground or any other suitable support for the device. Inside the trough is mounted a length of flexible or resilient material, such, for example, as a length of collapsed rubber tubing 4 which is substantially as long as the trough, and whose normal width is preferably greater than the shortest distance between the side walls 2. Inside the tube 4 is another length of flexible material, such, for example, as a length of oak leather 5. The oak leather strip 5 extends out of each end of the rubber tube i and the end thereof adjacent the pivotal support, that is to say, the righthand end as shown in the drawing, is fastened to a golf ball 6 by any suitable means, such, for example, as by a piece of flexible leather 1 which is fastened to the oak leather strip 5 by any suitable means, such as by rivets or rawhide lacing 8.

The side walls 2 may either be an equal distance apart throughout their length, or they may be drawn progressively nearer together from right to left, or they may be drawn progressively nearer together from left to right. I at present prefer to have the side walls drawn progressively nearer together from right to left, as the apparatus is viewed in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, but this is a matter of relatively small importance.

As shown in detail in Fig. 3, the ball 6 is supported for rotation about a normally substantially vertical axis by means of a pin or stud 9 which is fastened to the flexible leather strip 1 by means of a transverse pin Iii passing through stud 9 and fastened firmly to the strip 1 by any suitable means, such as by stitching or rivets. The stud 9 is provided with a relatively large, flat head H and the shank portion of the stud is circular in cross-section and is preferably tapered so as to be smaller in diameter at the top than at the bottom. The ball 6, being preferably a standard golf ball, is resilient and consequently stud 9 is preferably made of one piece and can be forced through the ball from top to bottom and then inserted in the strip i by means of the pin In. As will be explained more in detail later it is desirable to have a relatively tight frictional fit between the ball 3 and the stud 9.

The ball 6 is preferably provided with a plurality of distinctive marks, such as differently colored or differently marked, stripes 12, one of which acts at a time as a suitable pointer for cooperation with a hook or slice indicating scale it marked on top of the head H, as is shown in detail by Fig. 4.

The other or left-hand, end of the leather strip 5 is preferably formed in the shape of a pointer Hi for cooperation with a suitable scale member i5 for indicating initial direction of flight of the ball.

The inside bottom surface of the trough i is provided with a scale it preferably calibrated in yards for indicating the distance of a practice golf shot. The flexible members i and 5 are preferably fastened to the trough i by any suitable means, such as machine screw fl provided with a washer l8 and nut I9, as is clearly shown in Fig. 5. This is desirable in order to secure an accurate registration of distance, for otherwise the flexible elements will either pull out of the trough entirely under a heavy blow, or else they will slide along the trough, thus giving anuricertain distance indication.

The operation of the above described embodiment of my invention is as follows: If the golf ball 5 be squarely struck by a golf club, from right to left as Viewed in the drawing, along the axis of the trough i, the ball will of course rise depending upon the amount of loft of the club and in moving from right to left will pull the flexible members l and 5 out of the trough l as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. This pulling of the flexible members and 5 out of the trough i is retarded by the sloping sides 2 which offer a more or less uniform resistance to this action with the result that the amount of flexible material which is pulled out of the trough is an indication of the horizontal component of the force with which the ball has been struck. Due to this uniform frictional retarding action the ball will normally come to rest before all of the flexible material is withdrawn taut and abruptly stop further flight of the ball.

I have found, that theamount of rubber tube pulled out of the trough is reduced roughly proportionately according to the increased loft of the club which is used. In this manner, the distance indication is calibrated for club heads of different degrees of loft so'that a substantially correct distance indication is given regardless of the club used. This action may roughly and par tially be explained as follows: When the ball 6 is struck by a golf club having loft the force giving it motion may be resolved into a horizontal component, and a vertical component which is proportional to the loft. The horizontal component acts directly toward pulling the flexible members out of the trough i but the vertical component actstoward making the ball describe a circular arc about an instantaneous center located at the point where the flexible members are leaving the trough. The vertical component, therefore, causes the ball 6 in swinging through this arc, to beat down upon the ground, thus using up the force initially applied in a vertical direction by the loft of the club.

' In order to stiffen trough l, and also to prevent undue wear on the rub, er tube i and aid in re-seating the rubber tube '3, inside trough l, the outer edges of the side walls 2 are flanged out wardly and also the right-hand ends of the side walls are beveled as shown.

If the ball has been struck squarely there is no tendency for the trough l to move to right or left and consequently the pointer M will point to the center of the scale l5 indicating that the ball was squarely hit. Should the ball have been hit toone side or the other it will, of course, start in this direction and in pulling the flexible elements l and 5 out of the trough, the trough will be turned on the pivot 3 in the direction in which the ball was hit and consequently the pointer It cooperating with scale I5 will indicate the number of degrees the ball was hit 'to the right or to the left.

On short shots (in the range of yards) the weight of the moving elements may be too great to permit pointer H!- to register much deflection on scale l5. Instead the direction of a short shot is indicatedJby the direction in which the strip 5 and tube '4 point, when the ball 6 comes to rest after a short shot. It is obvious that the ball 6 willalways tend to travel in the direction it is hit, and by actual test on short shots, strip 5 and tube 4 are found to come to rest in a position showing the approximate clirectionof flight of a free golf ball on short shots. The tendency of strip 5 and tube 4 to roll or'travel sideways after-ball 5 beats down against the ground after being lightly hit for a shortjshot, is so slight, that the above is true. If the ball is hit a glancing blow or if the club head is drawn across the ball'while in contact with the ball, the" latter will turn upon the stud 9 thereby causing the mark lz whichcooperates with the center or zero portion of the scale l3 to move to right or left thereby indicating, respectively-whether the ball was sliced or hooked. The purpose of'the three stripes or marks I2 is to equalize the Wear on the ball. vThus after a givennumber of practice strokes'the ball may be rotated thereby bringing one or the other markers 'in line with the center portion of the scale.

It is desirable to have suflicient friction'between the ball and the stud 9 so that no matter how badly the ball is hooked or sliced during a practice shot, it will not turn more than Otherwise it would be difficult to tell from the arrangement shown whether the ball had been hooked or sliced. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art, however, that my'invention is not limited to this particular arrangement and, if desired, any suitable equivalent means might be employed for indicating which way the ball had been turned, even if it turned more than 180.

I have found that the great difficulty in recording the amount of hook or. slice imparted to a ball which is. frictionally mounted on a vertical stud and decelerated as it travels along roughly parallel to the ground bya dragging action applied to the ball, is the fact that when the dragging action begins to retard the golf ball in flight the golf ball whips violently down against the ground. This whipping action almost invariably causes a rotation of the ball relative to its stud. This, of course, results in a false indication of the amount of hook or slice. Theproblem to besolved is that the ball must be sufficiently free to rotate relative to the stud when it is. teed up, but a moment later the ball must be effectively locked on the stud to prevent its turning relative to the stud head ll when the ball beats down. against the ground. With my invention this problem is solved as follows: Withthe construction shown in Fig. 3 there is minimum pressure between the bottom surface of the head I I of the stud and the golf ball when the stud is in a vertical position and the ball'is ready'to be struck.

This means that minimum. friction is applied between bottom surface of stud head H and ball 6, when torque is applied to'ball E in a teed up position. In other Words, the friction lock be.- tween the bottom of the head ii of the stud 9 the ball 8 cannot apply at the moment the golf club hits the ball. Hence, the ball is not retarded in rotating relative to the stud at the moment of impact of the golf club head against the ball and the turning of the ball on the stud is largely limited'by the friction of the shank of the stud against the ball. A moment later, however, retarding action due to the trough is applied to the flight of the ball, and the position assumed by stu'd 9 is approximately horizontal rather than vertical. In other words, at this time, the momentum of the golf ball is exerting a tremendous pressure against the bottom of the head i i of the stud 9. This tremendous pressure is in force as the ball is whipped violently down against the ground and proves to be an effectual friction lock against the turning of the ball relative to the stud, as it beats down against the ground.

Although I have described my invention as ineluding a trough i, it should be obvious to those skilled in the art that my invention is not necessarily limited to this exact construction and other equivalent friction producing means might be employed. Thus, for example, portions of the trough i might be cut away to form the equivalent of a plurality of strips having inwardly sloping sides and consequently I intend to include all such equivalent constructions in the term trough.

By the term golf ball as is used above, I do not necessarily intend to be limited to a construction such as would ordinarily be used in actually playing golf, but I intend to include any constructions which have substantially the same shape,size,resilience,etc.,of an ordinary golf ball.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be without departing from my invention, and I therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination, a metal trough, a rubber tube of substantially the same length as said trough placed longitudinally in said trough, a length of flexible material passed through said tube, and a golf ball fastened to one end of said length of material.

2. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a pivotally mounted captive golf ball, and a plurality of substantially equally spaced marl n-s thereon whereby said ball can be periodically rotated through an angle corresponding to the angle between said marks thereby to equalize the wear on said ball.

3. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a pivotally mounted captive golf ball, a scale, a plurality of equally spaced marks on ball, any one of which may serve at a time as a pointer for cooperation with said scaleto indicate the amount of hook or slice irnparted to said ball, whereby said call can be periodically turned through an angle corresponding to the distance between two adjacent marks thereby to equalize the wear on said ball.

l. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a captive golf ball pivotally mounted on a normally vertical a marl; on said ball, the friction betv sen the ball and pin being lent to prevent more than one-half a turn of ball on. said pin as a r *ilt of a blow from a golf club where y it is always possible to tell from the dir ction of displacement of said i whether said ball would have been hooked iced.

5. In combination, a length of flexible mate rial, a golf ball, and means for fastening said ball to said length of material in such manner that if said ball is struck a golf club so as normally to produce a hook or slice said ball will initially rotate on a normally substantially vertical axis thro gh less than a half revolution and will thereafter substantially locked from further rotation until brought to rest by the retarding action of said length of fl xible material.

6. In combination, a length of flexible material, a golf ball, means for frictionally and pivotally mounting said ball on said length of material in such a manner that said ball can rotate about a substantially vertical. axis when it is first struck. by a golf club, and means for locking said ball against further rotation when said ball pulls against said length of material as a result of the translatory motion imparted to it by being hit by a golf club.

7. In combination, a length of flexible material, a normally vertical pin fastened to said length of material, a relatively large head on said pin, and a golf ball frictionally and pivotally mounted on said pin between said length of material and the head on said pin.

8. In combination, a goif ball, a normally substantially vertical stud of circular cross section passed through the center of said golf ball, said stud being tapered to a smaller diameter at the top than at thebottom, and having a relatively large flat head at the top.

9. In combination, a golf ball having a mark thereon, a normally substantially vertical stud passed through the center of said ball, a relatively large head on said stud, and a scale marked on said head for cooperation with the mark on said ball.

10. In combination, a relatively shallow metal trough having inwardly sloping side walls, means for pivotally supporting said trough at one end thereof for rotation in a horizontal plane, a scale marked off on the inside bottom surface of said trough, a collapsed rubber tube whose length is substantially the same as the length of said trough and whose width is greater than the minimum distance between the side walls of said trough placed longitudinally in said trough, a leather strap passing through said tube and extending from both ends thereof, the end of said strap remote from said pivotal supporting means being fashioned into a pointer, a transverse horizontal scale for cooperation with said pointer, a vertical steel pin fastened to the other end of said strap, a golf ball frictionaliy mounted on said pin, a mark on said golf ball, and a scale for cooperation with said mark.

11. In combination, a trough-like member, a length of flexible material normally fitted relatively snugly in said member and extending beyond one end of said member, and a golf ball fastened to the end of said length of material which normally extends beyond said member whereby if said golf ball is driven toward said member by a blow from a golf club said length of material will be frictionally retarded by the sides of said member from being pulled out of said member.

12. In combination, a trough having inwardly sloping side walls, a length of flexible material whose normal width is greater than the shortest distance between the side Walls of said trough placed lengthwise in said trough, means for fastening one end of said length of material to said trough, and means for fastening a golf ball to the other end of said length of material whereby if said ball is driven toward the end of said length of material which is fastened to said trough by a blow from a golf club the friction produced by said length of material being pulled out of said trough between the side walls thereof serves to absorb the energy imparted to the ball.

JOHN K. STAFFORD. 

